Gerotranscendent Growth and Well-Being in the Life Stories of Late-Midlife Adults

Reischer, Hollen N.

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-nw1q-qm85

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Gerotranscendent Growth and Well-Being in the Life Stories of Late-Midlife Adults

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Gerotranscendence involves feelings of coherence with one’s sense of self, greater acceptance of one’s own life, and connectedness to others across time and space. Gerotranscendence is thought to increase with age. The present study is the first longitudinal effort to investigate changes in gerotranscendence across late midlife using life story narratives. I use both self-report and narrative identity measures to track 163 Black and White U. S. participants’ gerotranscendence scores as they age from approximately 56 to 65 years old. I also examine relationships among measures of gerotranscendence and well-being, future time perspective, and cumulative lifetime adversity. My key findings were that self-reported measures of gerotranscendence did not increase over nine years, but narrative themes of closure and self-actualization increased significantly, especially between the ages of approximately 60–65. There were significant race and gender findings, such that Black participants were on average more gerotranscendent than White participants, and women were more gerotranscendent on average than men. The findings of change over time were robust even in models including race and gender, as were findings that gerotranscendence was associated with psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and depression in the expected directions. The present research presents significant contributions to narrative identity and gerotranscendence literatures, with particularly novel contributions provided by analyzing change over time in a group of Black and White midlife adults. Theoretical and methodological implications for the literature and for future research are discussed.

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